March - A Taste of Warmth

When March comes, we are always so done with the cold, snowy weather and ready for some warmth and sunshine. This year we were blessed to have a taste of some really nice weather in the middle of March! 

For St.Patrick's day we didn't do much except for celebrate it at Play School. Jaycie was in charge this week and she did such a great job with it. The hunt for the gold coins with clues along the way is always a favorite. Leprechaun names, tattoos, crafts, fruit loop necklaces, and those rainbow cupcakes were adorable! Play School is one of my favorite things. It's always so fun for the kids and great to catch up with the other moms as well! The kids were also very obsessed with catching a leprechaun this year. Jeff helped them make a trap and they spent many hours trying to catch one. On St.Patrick's day we even found some green pee in our toilet! Silly leprechauns!! We also ate lucky charms for breakfast which we were all very excited about.

The day the weather turned warmer Jeff and I took the kids all the way to Nakiska to go tubing down the hill. We went with the Bennett's and it was such a blast!! It was the perfect day because it was warm enough you didn't need mittens or hats, but we caught it before any of the snow melted so we still got a great tube ride down the hill. The kids were a little nervous at first, but it didn't take long for them to get used to it. By the end Bentley was doing it all by herself, but we still had to help  Deacon. It was really fun to all link together and go down at the same time. The kids giggled and had so much fun playing together. What a beautiful day in the mountains it was. So good for the soul!! It was also nice to not worry about Leo because Tamara was nice enough to watch him for us while we went. Afterwards we headed to a pie party at the church that night, so the kids had a fun-filled day. 

 While the weather was warm we got the urge to do lots more outdoor things! So, we got memberships to the zoo. We didn't go a lot last year, so it was really fun when we went again. The kids had a blast with the penguins who would chase Bentley's hair, it was so cute. We got to see the hippo walk right into the water. The giraffes and gorillas are always cool, and we made sure Leo saw his lions. We all had a great time, and went back again for more another day with Emily Whiteley.

One Saturday I went with Cindy and all the kids to heritage park, but we didn't realize the outdoor things hadn't opened yet. So, we played in gasoline alley, which actually ended up being really fun. They had a little scavenger hunt going on where you had to do all these different games and fill out a question sheet and get a bunch of stickers. Anyways, we all had a good time there. Afterwards we checked out the new library downtown. It's such a cool library with so much to do inside. It was a busy but fun day!

My next door neighbor, who's been trying to have a baby for a very very long time, was finally able to get pregnant and had her baby in February. We got to meet Keala and hang out with her for a while in our front yard when it was a nice sunny day. The kids thought she was adorable.

More Play School fun, being a doctor. Bentley's also always improving her drawing skills and I thought this picture was really neat. 

 Deacon is such a boy. He brought in this chair just so he could have a place to sit to take off his shoes! Also, I finally let him have color in his hair when he got a haircut and he thought it was the coolest thing ever. And then one day Leo wanted some of his apple so he shared it with him...but couldn't give it up himself so they awkwardly both ate it at the same time! So funny. 

 We were getting pretty excited about park days! The snow was still melting but it was nice enough to play at the park with friends. This community has some awesome parks.

Leo's 1st Birthday

Our little Leo turned 1 and I just can't believe we've had him for a whole year! While the first 5 months were really tough (with Leo sleeping on me every night), overall the year has flown by. He is now a great sleeper at night, and great at naps as long as he's in his crib. He'll fall asleep in the car or stroller, just not for very long. He definitely likes his bed! He eats amazingly. He seems to love just about any kind of food except for milk, and eats a ton! I still nurse him just morning and night and am hoping to stop pretty soon. He's got 6 teeth still - 4 on top, and 2 on the bottom. Jeff and I think he might be the most crazy of our kids because he doesn't play with toys for long before he moves on to find trouble or someone who will pick him up so he can be higher to see more things. He sprint crawls for bathrooms where the doors have been left open because his favorite thing to do is splash in toilets. He weighs a whopping 24 lbs and I can definitely feel that when I carry him! He loves to crawl and climb stairs, but hasn't shown much interest in walking. He makes you work for giggles, but when he gives them out they are just the cutest thing. He loves his soother and likes his head to be stroked before going to sleep. He's always loved rubbing his cheeks on soft things, or your legs. 

His birthday happened to be on a Saturday, so we invited both sides of the family over around lunchtime for some burgers and cake. Don and Cindy were able to make it, as well as Scott and Kellie and kids, and Tamara and Lee and kids, and Brent and Bailey. Leo loves to eat and be held, so he got both of those things!! The other kids had fun playing together and I bought some lion and other animal masks for them to have fun with. The theme was Leo the Lion! I made a lion cake and used pretzels for the mane. The cake looked really cute but I think Leo was a little scared of it! Or maybe just overwhelmed by everyone staring at him, but he was not very impressed. After we sang to him we gave him a little cupcake which he eventually got excited about. Cindy brought a little gift for him but otherwise I told everyone no gifts! My parents were away so they gave him a little gift the following week. A lot of the older kids watched basketball upstairs and everyone just hung out. It was a lot of fun!!

Leo is so squirmy, I literally could not get a good picture with him! These pictures kind of describe him though...

 We sure love our Leo! We can't wait to see what kind of person he will turn into.